Flexible belt buckle



Feb. 7, 1928. 1,658,425

G. ABRAHAM FLEXIBLE BELT BUCKLE Filed NOV. 12, 1924 i 6% 4 INVENTORORNEY Patented Feb. 7.192s.

[UNITED STATES 1 1,658,425 PATENT OFFICE.

GABRIEL ABRAHAM, 0E 'NEWYORK, N. Y.

FLEXIBLE BELT BUCKLE. 7

Application filed November 12, 1924. Serial No. 749,371;

and movable means co-operating therewith to permit the-buckle toelongate under tension and thereby to increase the comfort of the wearerof said belt. W

Another object of this invention is to pro- .vide a buckle having acasing and a head secured thereto in a novel manner so as to facilitatethe ease of operation of said buckle by the wearer of said belt. I

Another object of this invention is to provicle a buckle having aresilient memberand a casing for housing the same, said casing beingconstructed in, a novel manner to cooperate in the most efficient mannerwith said resilient member and withtheihead of the buckle.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a buckle havingacasingwith a movable part, and a resilient member cooperating with saidcasing and said part to permit of movement of said part whenundertension, said resilient member being so constructed as to have a highmaximum deflection, any tendency of the same to tilt or stick beingwholly eliminated. a

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter describedandclaimed, and while the inven-. tion is not restricted to the exactdetailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for thepurpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof, reference is hadto the accompanying drawings in which'like reference charactersdesignate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 isa longitudinal section of the buckle showing the same in use. 1

Fig. 2 is a front view of the buckle.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on 4-4; of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly tothe drawings, I showthe buckle ascomprising a body or casing having a plurality of relawardlty the linetively movable andco-operating parts such as and 11., Said parts ormembers are held securely to each other and in such manner as to permitone ofthem to be slidable relativelyto the other. For this purpose oneof-said parts such as the member 11 is provided with suitable extensionssuch as the lugs 12 to embrace the member 10 and to provide guidestherefor. Both members 10 and ll can be constructed in channel form,themember 10 havingside flanges 13, while the member 11 hassimilarflanges 14 lying without the flanges .13. This construction provides foreasy sliding movement of the 1nembers, and particularly for thechicient'housing of a resilient member. .15. The parts 10 and 11 areprovided with end flanges 16 and 17 respectively which act as abutmentsfor the spring 15, so that'assaid spring tends to. elongate itself itwill exert a pressure upon said flanges 16 and 17 outin the direction ofthe arrows aso as to ring the parts of the casing into normal relationto each other as shown in Fig. 1. hen, howeventension is exerted uponthe casing to draw the parts 10 and 11 away from each other in the,manner to be describedhereinafter, the spring is compressed and thecasing parts move outwardly of each other as shown in "Fig. 3.

The strap is secured in any suitable man-1 ner tothe, .respectivecasingparts, but preferably I provide a' frame 18 which is mounted upon thebuckle in a novel manner to facilitate the ease of operating the same;

-More particularly, said frame is secured tiltablyto the casing member11 at the free end of the buckle thus providing ample room for insertionof the strap through the frame and above the. casing' Said frame is provided with the usualtongue 19 for the strap 20 and slots to receivethes'ame. The opposite end of the strap is securedina suitable manner tothe casing member 10. as at the extension 21 thereof. I

Tofprevent undue or excessive tilting of the frame preliminary toapplying the belt to theperson and to retain the frame in neat andadjusted relation to the buckle, I provide stop means to limit the swingof the frame in the direction of the arrow 1). Thus proper co-operationis provided between the bearings 22 which are formed on the casingmember 11 and the portions of the buckle adjacent to the edges 23'of thebucklewhereby the "same abut against the edge 2 1 of the casing member11 for the purpose aforesaid. The construction disclosed hereincomprises the spindles which are offset inwardly relatively to the crossbars 26, thus providing the projecting lips at the edges 23.

To limit the movement of the parts of the casing, stop means areprovided such as the shoulders 27 on the extension 21 which abut againstthe side edges 28 of the member 11 when in normal position as shown inFig. 2, thus limiting the inward movement of the casing parts under thepressure of the spring 15. The spring itself, however, can act as a stopto limit outward move ment of said parts, as when the spring is totallycompressed.

The spring 15 is of the flat type and is constructed in a manner tosecure a very high maximum deflection so as to provide for considerableelongation of the buckle for the sake of affording a high degree ofcomfort to the wearer. Moreover, the spring being of flat form may behoused within a thin casing, and since it is of rectangular form it canbe rapidly assembled within the housing without the necessity ofproviding means to prevent a tilting thereof against the casin \Viththese, features of ad vantage and superiority in view, the spring willbe seen as comprising a member having a series of spaced 0r oppositelyrelated curves or loops 29. More specifically, the spring comprises aseries of loopslying in turn upon opposite sides of the casing, andjoined by the inclined portions 30, the deflection of the spring beingthus even and balanced throughout tofacilitate uniformity of operation.The stability of the spring which has been indicated above is greatlyfacilitated in that the end arms or portions 31 which contact directlywith the end flanges l6 and 17 of the. casing become parallel to saidflanges when the spring is slightly compressed so that the reaction ofthe flanges upon said armsoccurs when so compressed upon the entirelength of said arms thus increasing the stability of the I springagainst such tilting as generally oocurs when a spring is deflected by aforce acting upon a free end or point of the spring. The action of thearms 31 in becoming parallel tothe end flanges as stated is facilitatedby the construction of the main body of the spring, which being ofconsiderable length provides for a degree of accommodation, and

also because said arms having free ends they are not subject to acounter stress such as is exerted by the loops 29 upon the connectingportions 30.

I claim:

1. A buckle comprising a body, a tiltable frame, means for attaching astrap to the body, said body having a pair of bearings remote from thestrap attachment, said frame having a two-part cross-bar, the partsbeing spaced from each other, portions whereof form alined stems to bereceived within said bearings for attaching the body and frame together,and a tongue pivoted to the frame remote from the cross-bar and adaptedto enter the space between the parts thereof, and portions of saidcross-bar structure adjacent to said bearings being projectedperpendicular to the axis of the bearings to abut against said body whenthe frame is tilted through a predetermined angle away from said body.

2. A buckle comprising a body, a tiltable frame, means for attaching astrap to the body, said body having a pair of bearings, said framehaving a cross-bar consisting of two spaced alined portions, saidportions having stems journaled in said bearings to connect the frame tothe body, and a tongue mounted on the frame and adapted to enter thespace between the portions of the cross-bar.

3. A buckle comprising a body having a pair of relatively movableportions, a spring to keep said body in contracted position, means forattaching a strap to one portion of the body, a tiltabl-e frame mountedon the other portion of said body, the latter P01. tion of the bodyhaving a pair of bearings, said frame having a cross-bar consisting oftwo spaced alined portions, said alined portions having stems journaledin said bearings to connect the frame to the body, and a tongue mountedon the frame remote from said bearings and adapted to enter thespacebetweenthe alined portions of the cross-bar.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GABRIEL ABRAHAM.

